Load-controller for motor-vehicles.



F. J. TROLL.

LOAD CONTROLLER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION men )ULY 17.19%.

1 ,Q%7,54%. Patented May 22, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F. J. TROLL.

' LOAD CONTROLLER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11. I915.

l,%2%50% Patented May 22, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

attomwq nivinn earns I FREDERICK TROLL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNORTO THE LOADOM'ETEE COMPANY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

LOAD-CONTROLLER FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented lllEay 22, 1917.

Original application filed December 14, 1914,. Serial No. 877,226.Divided and. this application filed July 17, 1915. Serial No. 40,493.

To all wkomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK J. TROLL. acitizen of the United States,residing in the city of Baltimore and State of .Maryland, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Load-Controllers forMotor-Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a load indicator and controller for motortrucks and the like and may be termed a loadometer.

Motor trucks are sometimes equipped with a sign disposed at someconvenient point on the vehicle indicating the pound capacity thereof.Warnings are also sometimes located on the vehicle to the effect that itshould not be loaded to an extent beyond its rated carrying capacity,say for instance 3000 pounds. The reason for such notices and warningsis thatoverloads place the truck under unnecessary strain and impair thelife of the truck. A cautious driver in some instances in his efforts toexercise extreme care may underload the truck, thereby reducing theoperative efliciency by in creasing the unit cost per pound of thematerial handled. Careless drivers are likely to overload the truck,thereby increasing the repair cost, tire expense, etc, with the resultthat from the manufacture1"s viewpoint, the reputation of the truck isaffected to the disadvantage of the manufacturer by reason of complaintsfrom owners or purchasers of motor trucks.

It is therefore one object of my invention to provide means particularlyadapted for application to motor trucks to indicate under loads and overloads in conjunction with means associated therewith to cut off thesupply of driving medium to the driving means when a predetermined pointbeyond the rated load capacity has been reached so as to preventoperation of the driving means and consequent damage to the vehicle inthe event of an overload and so that a cautious driver in the exerciseof extreme care will not unknowingly underload the truck.

Another object resides in the provision of fluid pressure means whichmay be readily applied to a motor or other vehicle for antomaticallypreventing the operation of the vehicle when overloaded.

- the dash 12 may be secured.

lVith the above and other objects in View, the present inventionconsists in the combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinaftermore fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understoodthat changes may be made in the form, proportion, size and minor detailswithout departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the in vention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a. perspective view of a portion of a vehicle illustratingmy invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view through one side ofthe vehicle illustrating a portion of my invention.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through a portion of the manifoldintake pipe and the mechanism which is operated to automatically cut offthe supply of oper ating fluid to the engine.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view through the means forautomatically varying or adjusting the capacity of the fluid operatingmeans.

Fig. 5 is a. side elevation of the invention.

Fig. 6'is a front elevation of the gage with a part of the dial brokenaway.

Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view through the gage.

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view through one of the registeringmechanisms illustrating the means for preventing backward movement ofthe registering disks.

Fig. 9 is a detail view of the driving gear of the gage illustrating themeans for adjustably positioning the trip arm.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings thereference char acter A indicates the frame of the chassis of a motor orother truck which is supported upon front and rear wheels in the usualor any suitable manner, and to which The platform or bottom 13 of thebody 14 is shown as extending from the rear of the drivers seat 15 tothe rear of the frame A.

Secured adjacent opposite sides of the under side of the bottom 13 ofthe truck are oppositely disposed upper sills 16. Any suitable securingmeans may be employed for this purpose but bolts 17 are effective forthe performance of this function. These sills 16 preferably extend fromthe rear of the drivers seat to the rear end of the truck. In each sillthere is formed a substantially semi-circular or other form oflongitudinal groove 18 which extends throughout the length of each sill.

Plates 19 are secured by means of bolts or other suitable elements 20 tothe side of each sill 16 and depend below the respective sills. Theplates 19 are thus arranged in pairs, a pair being secured to each sill16.

Fitted between each pair of plates 19 is a lower sill 21 which ispreferably of the same length as the corresponding upper sill 16 andwhich is supported for vertical move ment between the corresponding pairof plates 19 by means of bolts or other suitable elements 22 passingtransversely therethrough and having movement at their ends in slots 23formed at the lower edge of the plates 19. These lower sills 21 aresecured by means of bolts or other suitable elements 24- to the chassisA so that the movements of the chassis A incident to uneven riding orjolting of the truck provides for a cor responding up and down movementof the sills 21 and, by virtue of the sills 16 being movable toward andaway from the respective sills 21 under the influence of weight put onor taken off of the bottom 13 of the truck, there is consequent playbetween the respective upper and lower sills on opposite sides of thevehicle.

The upper face of each lower sill 21 is provided with a longitudinalrecess 25 which extends throughout the length there of and preferably ofthe same formation as the longitudinal recess 18 in the respective uppersills 16 and preferably disposed in vertical alinement with the latter.In the seats thus formed in the upper and lower sills 16 and 21 on eachside of the truck I dispose rubber or other compressible, yieldable orresilient elements 26 which extend throughout the length of therespective sills. These resilient elements 26 each has a relativelysmall bore 27 which renders the same hollow without rendering thematerial thin between the bore and the outer circumference. Thesecompressible elements, it will. be seen, perform not only the functionof forcing fluid under pressure to effect operation of the valve 5 1: inthe intake manifold pipe 53, as will be later explained, but, by virtueof their 1.)articular formation serve also to support the body 14yieldably on the chassis A independently of the common spring meansemployed on all vehicles to yieldably support the chassis frame andbody.

Caps, plugs or other suitable elements may be employed to effectivelyclosethe outer ends'of the compressible elements 26 in order to preventescape of fluid which these compressible elements 26 are adapted tocontain for purposes presently understood. The fluid may be air orliquid and, in any event, it is preferably of such nature as not tohavean injurious effect on the compressible elements 26 as would tend todeteriorate or impair the life thereof. The compressible elements 26 areprotected from the weather by reason of their location between the sillsand said plates 19 and also by the end plates 19.

To indicate under-loading and overloading of the vehicle, metallicpiping or flexible tubes 29 may be connected by means of suitablecouplings 30 to the inner ends of the compressible elements 26. Theseconnections 29 are connected by means of suitable couplings 31 with afluid reservoir 32 located preferably near the front of the chassis.This reservoir 32 has pipe or other connection with a low pressure gage3 mounted on the dash board 12. This gage 31 may be of any suitablecharacter but preferably is of that variety of gage illustrated anddescribed more or less in detail in my co-pending application filedDecember 1-1, 1914-, Serial No. 877,226 and of which this is adivisional application. As pointed out in my aforesaid application, whenthere is fluid in the compressible members 26, compression of the lattercauses the fluid therein, and also the fluid in the tubular members 29and reservoir 32 and the pipe connection 33 to operate the bourdon tube41 in the gage 3 1, which is connected to a segmental gear 42 by meansof a connection 1-2 and which effects actuation of the segmental. gear4-2 on its pivot 13. This segmental gear 42 is in mesh with the pinion11 on the indicator shaft 15, and when said segmental gear swings itcauses said shaft 45 to rotate and consequently swing the hand 46 overthe dial face 47 of the gage 3 1 and thereby indicate on the dial facethe total pounds or amount of load in units as the load is placed on thetruck. The dial of the gage gives the rated capacity, say for instancethree thousand pounds, although it is preferably graduated to indicate agreater rate of pounds capacity as shown. It also includes a zero and ano load test point. The hand indicator l6 should also point to this noload test point when the truck is unloaded. The fluid capacity of thisreservoir 32 may be adjusted or varied as desired by means of a piston35 mounted therein and provided with a screw threaded or other stem 36which extends through one end of the reservoir. stem may be providedwith a hand wheel or the like 37 which has openings therein. Extendingfrom the reservoir 32 is an arm 38 provided. at its outer end with anaperture 39 through which and one ofthe openings This screw threaded ofthe hand wheel 37 a seal 4L0 may be inserted for the purpose of lockingthe piston 35 in adjusted positions against manipulation and consequentadjustment by unauthorized persons. Any other suitable means may beemployed for locking the piston 35 against unauthorized adjustment.

Under the action of weight placed on the truck the compressible elements26 are depressed according to the weight and this depression of thevehicle body and the consv quent compression of the compressibleelements 26 causes the fluid therein and also the fluid in the tubularconnections '29, the reservoir 32 and the pipe connection 33 to opcratethe ga e 34- in the manner disclosed in my aforesaid copendingapplication.

Should the truck be overloaded above a predetermined amount the supplyof gas or other driving medium is automatically cut oti from the engineto prevent operation of the same and a consequent movement of the truck.This automatic cut off of driving medium supplied to the engine may beaccomplished when the gage 3 1:, if employed in the system, has beenoperated. by the overload to indicate the overloaded condition and oneway for accomplishing this is by disposing a T-coupling 50 in the lineof the tubular connection 33 between the reservoir 32 and the gage 34:.There is maintained at all times an initial pressure on the system forshould there be any leakage, the indicator hand would drop below the noload test point toward the zero point. Should there be an extra amountof pressure from some cause or other, the hand 46 would go above the noload test point, The aforesaid adjustable reservoir 32 is provided forthe purpose of adjusting the hand indicator so as to maintain theindicator hand pointing directly to the no load test point when thetruck is unloaded. It might be mentioned at this point, for example,that if the truck has been loaded with 3,000 pounds to be carried to acertain point and then 1,000 pounds is removed from the truck, theindicator hand l6 will drop back to the 2,000 pound mark. Then, it thetruck is sent to another place and it has 600 pounds taken on, theindicator hand 46 will then indicate 2,600 pounds. The additional 600pounds and all leads taken on would be registered on a registering meansincluding rotatable disks d8, held against backward Increment,preferably by ratchets 48. Should the truck be overloaded above apredetermined amount, say for instance, 1,000 pounds overload, whichwould cause the hand indicator 4:6 to indicate 4,000 pounds on the dial,this act of overloading would be registered on a register, includingrotatable disks 49, held against backward movement by ratchets 48'. Oneway in which the times the truck has been. overloaded may be indicated,is to provide the aforesaid be\ cled gear 67 with a projection or othertripping element 60 which is so disposed. that when, the gear 67 hasbeen rotated to such an extent as to cause the indicator hand 46 to passthe predetermined amount of overload, as shown on dial 4-7, the trip 66will engage the star wheel. 66 and actuate the register mechanism. 429,indicating thereon the number of times the truck has been overloaded. Ifdesired, the beveled gear may have a plurality of screw-threaded holes67 on its pv riphery so that the screw-threaded tripping element 66 maybe disposed therein interchangeably whereby the trip will engage thestar wheel 66 at different times according to the hole in which the tripis placed, whereby the amount of overload to be reached and indicatedmay be adjusted. By means of the ratchets 48 the registering disks ofboth registering mechanisms turn in one direction only under the actionof registering the loads and overloads and cannot accidentally rotatebackward.

A pipe coupling 51 has connection with the T-coupling 50 and with oneend of the cylinder 52, which latter contains means operable under theinfluence of fluid pressure to operate means in the intake manitold 53of the engine of the truck to automatically cut off the supply ofdriving me dium to the cylinders of the engine. For instance,abutter-fly valve 54 is disposed in the manifold pipe 53 and has a shaftjournaled through the side of said cylinder 52 and to which shaft 55 andlocated within said cylinder 52 is a pinion 50 which is adapted to meshwith a rack 37 secured at one of its ends to a piston 58 which isslida-ble in the cylinder 52 under the action of fluid pressure enteringthe cylinder from the pipe 51. The outer end of the rack 57 is securedto a disk 59. interposed between the disk 59 and a disk 60 in thecylinder 52 is a spring 61. The fluid pressure against the piston.58acts against the tension of this spring 61 to cause the butter tiy valve53 to close the manifold intake pipe 51 thereby shutting ofl the supplyof gas to the engine and preventing movement of the truck.

The tension oi the spring 61 may be in creased or diminished byadjustment of the disk 60 toward and away from the disk 50, there beingsecured to the disc 60 a screw tl :eaded rod 62 which operates through ascrew threaded bore in the adjacent end of the cylinder On the outer endof the screw threaded rod 2 is a hand wheel The object of thisarrangement is for the purpose of adjusting the predetermined amount ofoverload, that may be placed on the truck which will operate to cut oilthe supply of gas to the engine. 011 the cylinder 52 an arm 64; providedwith an aperbeen reached.

ture through which and the hand wheel (33 a seal may be passed toprevent unauthorized manipulation or adjustment of the disk (30. Anyother locking means may be employed for the purpose.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the capacity of the truckmay be varied and that the weight on the truck incident to the materialsor commodities placed thereon or removed therefrom will be indicated onthe dial -1l-7 of the gage 34.. If the truck has the load capacity of,say for instance 3000 pounds, it will be apparent to the driver or otherattendant when the maximum load capacity of the vehicle has 1f thedriver or other attendant disregards the indication or warning given bythe gage 34-. when the maximum load capacity has been reached, theoverloaded vehicle cannot be moved because the butterfly valve 5% willbe operated at or slightly beyond the overloading point to cut off thegas supply to the engine so that the driver or other attendant cannotrun the vehicle in an overloaded condition. This overloading of thevehicle not only prevents movement of the vehicle but the fact that thevehicle has been overloaded is indicated on the gage 3-1. t will benoted that the walls of the recesses in the sills 1G and 21 almostcompletely embrace the compressible members 26 and that incident torelative movements of the sills toward each other, undue lateralexpansion of the compressible members is avoided. This is due to saidrecesses in the sills reinforcing the sides of the compressible members.The opposing inner faces of the sills on opposite sides of theirrecesses, upon coming together, limit and prevent further expansion andcompression of the compressible members. This degree of expansion orcompression is also limited by engagement of the bolts 22 with the upperends of the slots 23 in the plates 19 or the bolts 22 and the slots 23may coact with the opposing inner faces of the sills in the performanceof this function. The main object of preventing or limiting the degreeof compression or expansion of the compressible members beyond apredetermined point, is to obviate undue stress and wear on thecompressible members, the latter being constructed as to need but slightcompression to effect practical operation of my appliance.

What is claimed is:-

1. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body mounted thereon, drivingmeans for he vehicle, fluid pressure means carried by the vehicle toindicate when a predetermined load capacity has been reached, and meansoperable by said fluid pressure means to cut off the driving power ofthe vehicle when the predetermined load capacity has been reached.

mg operative connection with said valve and said indicating means tooperate the 1 valve and close said manifold intake when thepredetermined load capacity of the re hicle has been reached.

3. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body on the chassis, and anengine including a manifold intake pipe, of means to cut off the supplyof operating fluid to the engine when the maximum load capacity of thevehicle has been reached comprising a valve disposed in the manifoldintake, a fluid containing, compressible, operating member interposedbetween the chassis and the body, said member having walls formed of athickness to support the body in spaced relation to the chassis in theabsence of fluid in said member, a cylinder carried by the vehicle, andmeans mounted in said cylinder and having operative connection with saidvalve and operable under the influence of said fluid containing,compressible, element to operate the valve and close said manifold toindicate the amount of load placed on the vehicle, a valve in the intakepipe of the engine, and means operatively connected to the gageactuating means and the valve to automatically actuate said valve to cuted the supply of driving medium to the engine through said manifoldintake pipe and thereby prevent driving the vehicle when the same hasbeen overloaded.

5. The combination of a motor driven vehicle including the engine fordriving the same and the intake pipe of the engine, of means carried bythe vehicle to indicate the weight of loads placed thereon, a valve inthe intake pipe of the engine, a cylinder car ried by the vehicle, andmeans confined with in said cylinder and having operative connectionwith said valve to operate the latter to cut off the supply of drivingmedium through said intake pipe when the predetermined load capacity ofthe vehicle has been reached.

6. The combination with a motor driven vehicle including the engine fordriving the same and the intake pipe to the engine, of means carried bythe vehicle to indicate the weight of loads placed thereon, a valve inthe intake pipe of the engine, a cylinder carried by the vehicle, apiston slidable in the cylinder, a rack connected to the piston andhaving operative connection with said valve so that when thepredetermined load capacity of the vehicle has been reached the pistonmay operate to shift said rack and thereby operate said valve to cut oflthe supply of driving medium through said intake pipe to the engine andthereby prevent operation of the engine.

7. The combination of a motor driven vehicle, including the engine fordriving the same and the intake pipe to the engine, of

' means carried by the vehicle to indicate the weight of loads placedthereon, a valve in the intake pipe of the engine, a cylinder carried bythe vehicle, a spring controlled movable piston in said cylinder havingoperative connection with said valve, and a connection between saidcylinder and said Weight indicating means whereby when the predeterminedload capacity of the vehicle has been reached the piston will beoperated in said cylinder to actuate said valve and cut oif the supplyof driving medium through said intake pipe to prevent opera tion oftheengine and consequent movement of the vehicle.

8. The combination with a vehicle chassis, a body on the chassis, adriving means for the vehicle, means on the vehicle to indicate when apredetermined load capacity has been reached, of means to preventoperation of the driving means comprising an operatively, compressible,supporting member interposed between the chassis and the body andconstructed to contain an incompressible liquid, said member havingwalls formed of a thickness to support the body in spaced relation tothe chassis independently of the,

presence of liquid in said member and having operative connection withthe driving means.

9. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body mounted thereon, meansfor driving the vehicle including an engine having a valved intake pipe,fluid pressure means interposed between the chassis and the body, acylinder carried by the vehicle, a piston movable in the cylinder, anoperative connection between the piston and the valve of the valvedintake pipe, and connections between the fluid pressure means and saidcylinder to move said piston and thereby actuate the valve in the valvedintake pipe to cut oil? the supply of driving medium to the engine.

10. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body mounted thereon, anengine for driving the vehicle including a valved intake pipe, fluidpressure means interposed between the chassis and the body, meanscarried by the vehicle and constructed to receive pressure from saidfluid pressure means, and having operative connection with the valve inthe valved intake pipe so that under the influence of pressure from saidfluid pressure means incident to a predetermined amount of weightplacedon the body of the vehicle the valve in the valved intake pipe will beoperated to cut off the supply of driving medium through the ill-- takepipe to prevent movement of the vehicle while the predetermined loadremains on the body of the vehicles.

11. The combination with a chassis, a vehicle body, and means fordriving the vehicle, of means for preventing operation of the drivingmeans when the maximum load capacity of the vehicle has been reachedcomprising an operatively, compressible, supporting member interposedbetween the chassis and the body and constructed to contain anincompressible liquid, said member being operatively connected to thedriv ing means and having walls formed of a thickness to support thebody in spaced relation to the chassis independently of the presence offluid in said member.

12. The combination with a chassis, a vehicle body, and a driving meansfor the vehicle, of means for preventing operation of the driving meanswhen a maximum load capacity of the vehicle has been reached 953comprising a fluid containing operatingmember interposed between thechassis and the body and connected to the driving means and operable tovarying degrees of compression according to loads placed on the body,said member being capable of supporting the body under the same varyingdegrees of compression as aforesaid, incident to varying loads in theabsence of fluid in said member.

13. The combination of a vehicle chassis, means for driving the vehicleincluding an engine having a valved intake pipe, fluid pressure meanscarried by the chassis, means for adjusting the capacity of the fluidpressure means, a cylinder carried by the vehicle, a piston movable inthe cylinder, an operative connection between the piston and the valveof the valved intake pipe, adjustable yieldable means opposing movementof the piston, and connections between the fluid pressure means and saidcylinder whereby movement of the piston, may be eflected against actionof said adjustable yieldable means to actuate the valve in the 12CDvalved intake pipe and thereby cut off the supply of driving .means tothe engine.

14.. The combination with a chassis, a vehicle body, and a driving meansfor the vehicle, of means for preventing operation of the driving meanswhen u the maximum load capacity of the vehicle has been reachedcomprising a plurality of fluid containing, compressible, operatingmembers arranged between the chassis and the body and con 139 nected tothe driving means, said members each having walls constructed to supportthe body in operative position on the chassis independently of thepresence of fluid therein.

15. The combination of a vehicle and means to drive the same, fluidpressure means carried by the vehicle to indicate when a predeterminedload capacity has been reached, a cylinder carried by the vehicle, apiston in the cylinder, means leading from the fluid means to conveyfluid under pressure into the cylinder against the piston to move thelatter, and means between the cylinder and the driving means to preventoperation of the latter when the piston is moved as aforesaid.

1.6. The combination oi? a vehicle including a chassis frame and a body,means for yieldably supporting the frame and body, the body beingsubject to depression under the influence of weight placed thereon,fluid pressure means arranged between the frame and the body toyieldably support the latter on the frame against weight placed on thebody independently of the first mentioned yieldable supporting means,means for driving the vehicle, and means carried by the vehicle andlocated between the fluid pres sure means and the driving means foractuation under the influence of the fluid pressure means to preventoperation of the driving means.

17. The combination with a chassis, a vehicle body and a driving meansfor the vehicle, of means for preventing operation of the driving meanswhen a predetermined load capacity of the vehicle has been reachedcomprising a fluid containing, compressible, operating member interposedbetween the chassis and the body, said member being connected to thedriving means and having walls constructed to support the body inoperative position on the chassis in the absence of fluid in saidmember, and means for inclosing said coi'i'ipressible, operating member.

18. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body on the chassis, meansfor driving the vehicle, and fluid pressure means to n'event operationof the driving means of the vehicle including a fluid containing compressible body supporting member disposed between the chassis and thevehicle body.

19. The combination. of a vehicle chassis,

a body on the chassis, means fordriving the vehicle, and fluid pressuremeans to prevent operation of the driving means including a fluidcontaining compressible body supporting member disposed between thechassis and the body and constructed to support the body in normalposition on the chassis independently of fluid in said member.

20. The combination of a vehicle chassis,

a body on the chassis, a driving means for the vehicle, and means toprevent operation of the driving means having as one element thereof afluid containing, compressible, bodysupporting member disposed betweenthe chassis and the body and constructed to adequately support the bodyindependently of operative connection with the means which preventsoperation of the driving means.

21. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body on the chassis, adriving means for the vehicle, means to prevent operation oi the drivingmeans having as one element thereof, a fluid containing, compressible,body-supporting member disposed between the chassis and the body andconstructed to adequately support the body independently of operativeconnection with the means which prevents operation of the driving means,and means controlled by said compressible member for actuating. themeans which prevents operation of the driving means.

22. The combination of a vehicle chassis, means for yieldably supportingthe chassis, a body on the chassis, a means for driving the vehicle, andmeans independent of said yieldable supporting means for preventingoperation of the driving means having as one element thereof acompressible bodysupporting member disposed between the chassis and thevehicle body.

23. The combination of a vehicle chassis, means for yieldably supportingthe chassis, a body on the chassis, means for driving the vehicle, andmeans independent of said yieldable supporting means for preventingoperation of the driving means including a compressible body-supportingmember disposed between the chassis and the body, and means controlledby said compressible member for actuating the means which preventsoperation of the driving means.

24:. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body on the chassis, meansfor driving the vehicle, fluid pressure means to prevent operation ofthe driving means of the vehicle including a fluid containing,compressible member disposed between the chassis and the vehicle bodyand means interposed between the chassis and body for the support ofsaid compressible member and constructed whereby the degree ofcompression of the compressible member is limited.

25. The combination of a vehicle chassis, a body on the chassis, meansfor driving the vehicle, fluid pressure means to prevent operation ofthe driving means of the vehicle including a fluid. containing,compressible member disposed between the chassis and the vehicle body,and means interposed be tween the chassis and body for the support ofsaid compressible member and constructed whereby the degree ofcompresion of the compressible member is limited, said compressiblemember being constructed to yield ably support the body independently ofthe presence of fluid therein.

26. The combination of a vehicle chassis and a body, upper and lowermembers interposed between the chassis and the body, said members beingmovable relative to each other and having opposing recesses in theirinner faces, means for driving the vehicle and means to preventoperation of the driving means ofthe vehicle including a compressiblemember interposed between said upper and lower members and located inand almost completely embraced by said recesses of said upper and lowermembers, and means whereby the degree of compression of saidcompressible member is limited beyond a predetermined point.

27. The combination of a vehicle including a chassis and a body, meansfor driving the vehicle, a fluid operated means to prevent operationon": the driving means, and a fluid containing, operating compressiblemember interposed between the chassis and body to yieldably support thebody, said compressible member being constructed to yieldably supportthe upper member independently of the presence of fluid therein.

28. The combination of a vehicle including a body and a chassis, meansto drive the vehicle, means to prevent operation of the driving means,upper and lower sills interposed between the body and the chassis theopposing faces of the sills having recesses, and a fluid containing,operating compressible member interposed between said sills and locatedin the recesses of the latter and compressible under the influence ofweight placed on the body to actuate the means which prevents operationof the driving means, said compressible member being constructed toyieldably support the upper member independently of the presence offluid therein.

29. The combination of a vehicle including a body and a chassis, meansfor yieldably supporting the chassis, a driving means for the vehicle,and means independent of said yieldable supporting means for preventingoperation of the driving means having as elements thereof compressiblebody supporting members interposed between the chassis and the vehiclebody.

30. The combination of a vehicle including a body and a chassis, meansfor yieldably supporting the chassis, means for driving the vehicle,means independent of said yieldable supporting means for preventingoperation of the driving means including a relatively long compressiblebody support ing member disposed between the chassis and the body, andmeans controlled by said compressible member for actuating the meanswhich prevents operation of the driving means.

31. The combination of a vehicle includ ing a body and a chassis, meansfor driving the vehicle, means to indicate the weight of loads placed onthe vehicle, means operatively connected to the indicating means toindicate the number 01" times the vehicle overloaded, said indicatingmeans including a compressible member interposed between the body andthe chassis, and means actuated by said compressible member to preventOperation of the driving means of the vehicle when the predeterminedload capacity of the vehicle has been reached.

32. The combination of a vehicle iucluding a chassis and a body, anindicating means including. a device to indicate when the weightcapacity of the vehicle has been reached, a device to indicate the totalweight carried by the vehicle and a device to indicate the number oftimes the vehicle is overloaded, said indicating means also including acompressible actuating member interposed between the body and thechassis, a driving means for the vehicle, and means actuated by saidcompressible member to prevent operation of the driving means when thepredetermined load capacity of the vehicle has been reached.

33. The combination of a vehicle including a chassis and a body, anindicating means including a device to indicate when the weight capacityof the vehicle has been reached, a device to indicate the total weightcarried by the vehicle, and a compressible member interposed between thebody and the chassis to operate said indicating means, means for drivingthe vehicle, and means operatively connected to said compressible memberand actuated thereby to prevent operation of the driving means when thepredetermined weight capacity of the vehicle has been reached.

34:- The combination of a vehicle including a chassis and a vehiclebody, an indicating means including a device to indicate when the weightcapacity of the vehicle has been reached and a device to indicate thenumber of times the vehicle is overloaded, a compressible memberinterposed between the chassis and the body to operate said indicatingmeans, means to drive the vehicle, and means operatively connected tosaid compressible member and actuated thereby to prevent operation ofthe driving means when the predetermined weight capacity of the vehiclehas been reached.

35. The combination of a vehicle including a body and a chassis andmeans for driving the vehicle, of a compressible member interposedbetween the body and the chassis and operatively connected to thedriving means to prevent ope 'ation of the letter when the vehicle isoverlezulml, and, means for inc-losing the compressible nien'lber.

The con'ibinzition of :1 vehicle including a body and a clmssie andmeans for driving the vehicle, 01 :1 compressible member interposedbetween the lJOtlY and the chassis and operatively connected to thedriving means to prevent operation of the letter When the 10 vehicle isoverloaded, and means for incl0sing' the cen'ipressible member andincluding means whereby the degree of compression of the compressiblemember is limited.

In testimony whereo'l. I uflix my signature in the presence of twoWitnesses.

FREDERICK J TRULL.

Witnesses JOHN H. Sxeenns, Geo. C. SHOEMAKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Gammissimier of Patents Washington, 1 K3.

